Productivity tools / Note taking16 tools
Best note-taking apps
Capture and organise notes across devices. Facts come from each tool's own pages, and every score says where it comes from. How we rank
- Tools
- 16
- Researched
- 9
- Free option
- 6
- Only listed
- 7
Ranked by signals we can measure or quote: website health, the facts each tool's own pages state, and community discussion. Nothing here has been hands-on tested yet, so this is not a quality test. How the signals rank works
Quick answer
- No signup needed: Obsidian
- Files stay on your device: Obsidian, Craft, Joplin, Logseq
Based on what each tool's own pages say. A tool is left out when its pages say it varies or do not say. Details are listed under each tool.
Want two of these head to head? Compare tools side by side.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Obsidian is free without limits. The page says: “Free without limits.”
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Obsidian stores notes locally on the user's device. The page says: “Obsidian stores notes privately on your device, so you can access them quickly, even offline.”
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-08. Sources: Pricing, Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Not stated.
- Paid plan
- There is a Plus plan available, and Readwise users are eligible for a 50% lifetime discount on subscriptions. The page says: “Yes, Readwise users, including those with free accounts, are eligible for a 50% lifetime discount on Craft subscriptions.”
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Not stated.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-08. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Free plan at $0 per member per month. Uploads up to 5 MB per file, 7 days of page history, an AI trial only, and a limited number of blocks in multi-member workspaces (number not given). Solo workspaces have no block limit.
- Paid plan
- Plus $10 and Business $20 per member per month, in USD; Enterprise is custom. Billed monthly or yearly, yearly saves up to 20%. Plus is free for students and educators.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Free public forms carry Notion branding, and sites show Notion branding unless a paid custom domain is used.
- Where files go
- Information may be transferred, processed and stored anywhere in the world, including the United States. It is kept as long as you use the services and as needed for stated purposes; no specific period is given.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- The free plan includes unlimited notes on unlimited devices, end-to-end encryption, and 50MB of attachment storage per month. The page says: “The free plan gives you unlimited notes on unlimited devices, end-to-end encrypted by default, with 50MB of attachment storage per month.”
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- An account is required to use Notesnook. The page says: “Create a new account.”
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Notes are encrypted on the user's device before being sent to the server. The page says: “Encrypted before they leave your device, so what travels is gibberish to everyone but you.”
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-08. Sources: Pricing, Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Free Basic plan costs $0. It has unlimited spaces, objects and blocks, and 5 GB of media uploads in total, then 100 MB per month. It has no AI assistant and no Pro features such as whiteboards, task management or the Public API.
- Paid plan
- Pro is $9.99 per month, with a 16% discount for yearly billing. Believer is from $12.49 per month. An optional Plus add-on is $8.33 per month billed annually. The page's structured data shows different prices (Pro $11.99 per month, Believer $14.99 per month). A free Pro trial without a credit card is mentioned.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not applicable.
- Where files go
- The privacy policy says Capacities stores the notes, texts and media you create, but names no location. AI features send selected content and chat inputs to external AI providers, who keep it only temporarily. Registration data is kept up to four weeks after account deletion.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Logseq is free forever for personal use. The page says: “Free forever for personal use.”
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Data is stored locally on the user's device. The page says: “You own your data locally forever.”
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-08. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
- Free tier
- The free version includes local access to notes, document scanning, export to various formats, 3 themes, 1 app icon, search inside PDFs and images, and iCloud sync. The page says: “Free. Local access to your notes . Document scanning . Export to: TXT, Markdown, TextBundle, RTF, PDF, JPG, HTML, DOCX, ePub . 3 free themes . 1 app icon . Search inside PDFs and images . Sync with iCloud.”
- Paid plan
- Bear Pro costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, with a 7-day free trial available. The page says: “A 7 day free trial, then $2.99 /month . -15% $29.99 /year.”
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Notes are stored between the user and iCloud. The page says: “Your notes are between you and iCloud— we can't see anything.”
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-08. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Answers come from each tool's own pages (“Unclear” means they do not say). Tick “Compare” on two to four tools to read them side by side.
Also listed (7, not yet tested)
Each of these answered when we visited its site. We have not tested them or recorded facts, so they are in alphabetical order, not ranked.
- CodaOpen
Coda is an all-in-one platform that blends the flexibility of docs, structure of spreadsheets, power of applications, and intelligence of AI.
- OneNoteOpen
Capture your ideas with Microsoft OneNote online. Organize notes, clip web content, and collaborate with others from any device.
- ReflectOpen
Capture ideas, connect notes, and keep your files in Markdown. Reflect Open is open source and free on Mac, with paid apps for iPhone and iPad.
- Roam ResearchOpen
As easy to use as a word document or bulleted list, and as powerful for finding, collecting, and connecting related ideas as a graph database.
- SimplenoteOpen
The simplest way to keep notes. Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, and the web.
- Standard NotesOpen
Standard Notes helps you gain control in a world that often feels out of control. Protect your life's work with end-to-end encryption, advanced security measures, and unmatched privacy controls.
- TyporaOpen
Typora is listed for: note taking.
Other Productivity tools rankings
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